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Last Wednesday, for the first time, I spoke publicly about losing my mother when I was a child. I wanted to write a brief note today, primarily to express thanks for the huge volume of support, shared grief, emotional outpourings and condolence messages I’ve had. I’ve been overwhelmed in every way. Doing the Radio 5 Live interview...

Update Note: 12/12/2017. I wrote this blog just before November’s base rate rise, predicting then UK rates would rise and Santander 123 wouldn’t follow. Well UK rates did rise, and Santander’s confirmed it won’t follow. So everything below still stands. Some of the alternative accounts and rates have shifted slightly, but most are pretty similar – just click...

If you read the papers you’d think the answer is a clear cut yes. I too agree, to an extent. Yet the most commonly quoted problems tend not to be what worries me most, and the things least mentioned can hurt. On Tuesday, MSE organised an event at the Tory party conference, where I debated this subject...

Have you been Plevined? I ask that question in the almost certain knowledge that most people reading this won’t have a clue what I’m on about. Yet the answer is YES for millions, and if so that means you’re owed big money. At the end of August, the financial regulator the Financial Conduct Authority launched a two-year...

This weekend the papers have been mooting that Theresa May’s Government is looking to cut the English and Welsh student loan interest rate – now at a 6.1% headline rate for those who began uni in or after 2012 – in order to appeal to the youth vote. I find this frustrating. Not because I object; I’ve...

Fear grabs votes and makes headlines. Sadly, though, both sides’ political spin and spittle over student finance have resulted in widespread rampant misinformation – and it’s got worse again this year. So with a new academic year about to start, my message to students and their parents is simple – forget the politics – ensure you understand...

Last Wednesday, the day before the general election, I casually popped a little note on social media. That message exploded. I’ve had posts go viral before, but this was by far the biggest. So I thought it would be interesting to bash out the stats of the tweet, and try to explore why this message triggered the instinct...

On Wednesday, the UK formally triggers Article 50, the start of the two-year negotiation process of leaving the European Union – the culmination of the vote to leave the EU in June 2016. The day after that vote I wrote an instant first impressions news analysis guide on what Brexit is likely to mean for your finances....

On 23 November the new Chancellor Phillip Hammond, will present his first Autumn Statement – it’s likely to contain a range of major policy announcements. As always the Treasury has invited submissions, and this year MSE and I felt it was time to take them up on the offer – we’ve submitted two. Here’s the first (the second...

Parents of students starting university in England in 2016, are facing a hidden 27% rise in university costs. We’ve been working on this for a few weeks, and as part of our campaign for a more transparent system of student finance, I have today sent an open letter to Jo Johnson, Minister for Universities, asking for him...

Should loyal customers be charged more than new ones? On the surface the answer is a simple no – but nothing is that simple. Many consumer marketplaces function because only some people embrace competition, and we need to work out what happens if we change that

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